four APCs were now destroyed, blasted apart after having high intensity laser energy burn through their hulls, exploding their ammunition stores, their hydrogen tanks, and their oxidizer tanks. A combination of smoke and blood vapor from the shredded bodies within drifted up from each to join the dust cloud.
'Goddamn they're fast,' Lon said, shaking his head in admiration. As many times as he'd seen the Mosquitoes in action, he was still awed by the sheer speed of their attacks. 'Jeffy, how's the scanning? Did that get their attention?'
'Oh fuckin' aye,' Jefferson affirmed. 'They're chattering up a storm down there. I've got at least six more command APCs identified. Should be comin' up on view in a few seconds.'
Sure enough, seven more APCs turned blue. They were scattered throughout the portion of the formation that was visible.
'AT holders,' Lon said, 'start picking your targets and tracking them. Remember your zones of fire. Let's not waste shots by having two of you hit the same target.'
On the far side of the formation three more APCs suddenly exploded one after the other. None of Lon's squad had even seen the Mosquitoes that had been responsible for the attack.
'Yes!' Horishito yelled triumphantly. 'How do you like that action, assholes? Looks like our little Mosquitoes got somethin' for your ass, don't they?'
'One of them missed,' Jefferson said sourly. 'What's up with that shit?'
'Just on one shot,' Lisa said. 'Give the guys a little credit. They only have four seconds or so to pull off two shots.'
'True,' Jefferson said, 'but they also have computer assist to find the firing zone, don't they?'
'Yeah, but...' Lisa started.
'Okay, guys,' Lon interrupted. 'We're starting to edge into the land of too much non-essential chatter here. Jeffy, are you still scanning? It looks like they're maneuvering about down there. Aren't there command APCs issuing orders that you should be identifying?'
'Yeah, sorry, sarge,' Jefferson said. 'There will be a few more on view in a few seconds.'
The APCs were indeed maneuvering about, spreading out from their tight formations and scattering over a larger area. The tanks were also spreading out as well as putting on speed and starting to zigzag in evasive courses. The anti-air vehicles had all stopped and were pointing their laser cannons towards the hillsides, radar and infra-red dishes turning madly in search of the aircraft that were menacing them.
None of this did any good. The first pair of Mosquitoes, the pair that had passed over Lon and the others on their first run, suddenly emerged from the hills again, this time about four kilometers to the east. Their lasers flashed and four more APCs exploded into smoke, debris, and blood vapor. The Mosquitoes disappeared again. More than twenty of the anti-air vehicles fired their laser cannons after them but all of them were too late. They did nothing but pepper the hillsides or send their laser energy out through the atmosphere.
No sooner had this pair disappeared before the other pair reemerged from the other side of the valley and took out another four. They too escaped before any of the anti-air vehicles could get a lock on them.
'That's it,' Jefferson said. 'The Mosquitoes are pulling back. They will be circling twenty klicks south of us in case we need them to cover our retreat.'
'Good fuckin' deal,' Lon said. 'Okay, people. It's time for us to get to make our presence known. AT holders, commence firing. Primary targets are the command APCs. Stick to your zones.'
Lisa smiled beneath her helmet, adjusting the AT-50 on her shoulder. It was charged and ready, her targeting recticle resting on one of the blue APCs. Her finger went to the firing button and slowly, smoothly, she pushed it.
Callahan was a little nervous but not really alarmed just yet. He had not actually seen any of the APCs get hit, had not actually seen any of the Martian aircraft that were hitting them, he only knew they were under attack because Captain Ayers had told him they were under attack.
'It's those Mosquitoes!' Ayers told him and the other platoon leaders on the command frequency. 'They're coming in low from the hills and hitting us. All platoons need to go into evasive maneuvering!'
Callahan passed the order along to his squad leaders but wondered just what good it would do. If they were being hit with lasers, which moved at the speed of light after all, what good would zigzagging around do? 'What about the SALs?' he asked Ayers. 'Why aren't they taking the aircraft down?' That was what they'd been told would happen if any of those greenie aircraft dared trying to engage the armor on the march. SALs were ringing the entire formation and they too fired lasers that moved at the speed of light.
'They appear and disappear so fast the SALs can't get a lock on them!' Ayers said. 'It's just like when they hit the hovers at the LZ.'
'But we have twenty times as many SALs out here now,' Callahan said. 'None of them are able to get a lock?'
'It seems that the greenies have been practicing this maneuver,' Ayers said. 'Somebody is out there guiding them to their targets and they're keeping their exposure time at four to five seconds. We simply can't lock on and fire that quickly.'
'Clusterfuck,' Callahan muttered, not bothering to close his transmission link first. Why in the hell didn't they know the greenies operated like this? Obviously they'd practiced this maneuver for years. Had the marine units stationed on the planet held them in such contempt that they'd never bothered learning what their tactics would be?
Ayers had no answer for him. Callahan shook his head in disgust and then looked at his screens, trying to get a sense of what was going on outside. He could make nothing out of the confusing array of infrared enhanced images so he opened the hatch on the APC and stood up, poking his head out to take an actual look around. Like before, the dust was so thick he couldn't see a thing. He set his goggles for infrared enhancement and looked around. Still, nothing seemed unusual except for the fact that all of the armor was maneuvering wildly about. He could see no burning APCs or tanks, could see no Martian aircraft in the sky. They must have hit further back in the column.
'What about getting some dismounts out there with hand-held SALs?' Callahan asked Ayers. 'If we put enough lasers into the air we're bound to hit one of those things.'
'I've passed that idea onto battalion,' Ayers said. 'They're checking with regimental about it now.'
Callahan shook his head in disgust and continued his look around. Wondering about who was guiding the aircraft to their targets he began scanning the hillsides to the south just in time to see the flash of Lisa Wong's weapon sending a burst of laser energy out. It was followed by three other flashes in close succession. He didn't know where the first three flashes went but he had a pretty good idea about the fourth. Two hundred meters to his left an APC suddenly exploded, the turret flying into the air, shrapnel flying in all directions, blood vapor and smoke boiling out into the atmosphere.
'Holy fuck!' he yelled in horror. Twelve marines had just died in the time it took him to blink an eye.
'They're hitting us again!' Ayers said. 'No aircraft spotted!'
'It wasn't aircraft!' Callahan reported. 'AT-50 fire from the south! Spread out among at least four hilltops!'
'Confirm AT-50 fire?' Ayers demanded.
'I saw it with my own eyes!' Callahan reported. 'Let me get the coordinates.' He called up his map display and quickly read off the grid and hill numbers. By the time he'd done this several other units had reported the same information.
'We got it!' Ayers said. 'Regimental is ordering the tanks on the left flank to engage.'
'They're not close enough!' Callahan said. The tanks could only engage dismounted troops with their main guns or their machine guns and the range on those weapons was only four kilometers for the former and less than a kilometer for the latter.
'They're moving them in!' Ayers said. 'Continue evasive maneuvering. They're sending a company from the 324th to take that position!'
Callahan opened his mouth to ask why in the fuck they were doing that when it was reported that more laser flashes had been spotted, that more APCs had been hit, this time from hills on the north side of the valley.
'It's a fuckin' ambush!' Callahan said. 'Screw going after them, we need to get the fuck out of here!'
'We need to take them out!' Ayers countered. 'We're going after them. Bravo Company is moving to the north position along with the tanks from the right flank.'
